FOODSERVICE

Review of the Russian Market of Margarine and Specialty Fats

Research by the Company “ID-Marketing”

According to the data by the Eurasian Economic Union, the fats and oils industry has been among the most dynamically developing branches in both Russia and other countries of the Customs Union. The segment of the industry most active in terms of growth rates in the Russian Federation is the market of specialty fats: production of melted fats and mixtures increased by 4.3 times from 2011 to 2017.

The bulk of margarine wholesales across the federal districts in Russia falls on the Volga and Central Federal Districts. In 2017, the volume of wholesales of margarine in the regions of the Volga Federal District almost reached 274 thousand tonnes.

The main share of margarine wholesales for large and medium-sized wholesale companies is occupied by 3 regions, namely Saratov region, Nizhny Novgorod region and Belgorod region. Their total share equaled 77% in monetary terms in 2016. In 2017, an increase in wholesales was observed among the major federal districts, with the exception of the Volga Federal District, where indicators dropped by 13.4%.

Retail sales of margarine products in 2017 demonstrated 5.4% growth and amounted to 46.5 billion rubles. Moscow is the leader for this indicator – in 2017, sales in the capital increased by 9.6% compared with 2016, reaching 27%. Dagestan is second in terms of retail sales, the indicator in the region having grown by 5.6%. The top three regions also include Sverdlovsk region, where retail sales of margarine products increased by 3.5% in 2017.

The introduction of technical regulations requiring reduced trans isomer content in fats has been serving as the main factor affecting production in recent years. According to official data by the Eurasian Economic Commission, technical regulations on oil and fat products (TR TS 024/2011) were adopted in accordance with the decision of the Customs Union Commission No. 883 dated December 9, 2011, and entered into force on July 1, 2013. A transition period was provided in order to ensure that enterprises in the fats and oils industry could better prepare for meeting the new requirements and restructure production. The trans isomer content in processed vegetable oil and animal fat products was being lowered in stages. The seven-year transition period ended on January 1, 2018 – now the content of trans fatty acid isomers in these products must not exceed 2% of the total fat content. Earlier the content of such trans isomers allowed was between 8 and 20%.

In 2014–2017, production of margarine was characterized by wavelike dynamics. For instance, in 2015 the volume of production increased by 3% compared with 2014, whereas in 2016 it already demonstrated a decline of 5.8% to 2015. In 2017, margarine output grew by 8% in comparison to the previous year.

According to estimates by “ID-Marketing”, production of margarine in Saratov region remained virtually unchanged to the level of 2016. The share of this region in the total output volume for this product category amounted to 35.8%. Voronezh region demonstrated a 28.5% increase in indicators. Margarine output in Nizhny Novgorod region grew by 12.1%. Among the largest regions, Saint Petersburg is to be highlighted, having demonstrated growth of 25.5% in margarine production against 2016.

According to “ID-Marketing”, the volume of specialty fat production increased by 6.4% in 2016 compared with 2015. In 2017 it declined by 5.9% against the previous year.

“EFKO” Group is Russia’s largest manufacturer in the segment of specialty oils and fats, occupying more than half of the market. The consolidation of “Evdakovskiy Maslozhirovoy Kombinat (Evdakovo Oil and Fat Factory)” OJSC’s assets taken into account, the company expanded their production capacity by 5–6 thousand tonnes of goods per month. According to official data by “EFKO”, its output of specialty fats and margarine reached 561 thousand tonnes in 2016, assets in Kazakhstan included, whereas in 2017 growth equaled 14.3% and production volumes increased to 641 thousand tonnes. According to estimates by “ID-Marketing”, the company’s share in the segment of specialty oils and fats in the past year equaled 63%.

“Solnechnye Produkty” holding company ranks second in volumes of specialty fats output in the country – “ID-Marketing” estimates the company’s share in 2017 at 15%.

“Cargill” LLC is third in volumes of fats and oils production in Russia. According to “ID-Marketing”, in 2017 the company produced around 13% of the country’s total specialty fats output.

All in all, estimates by “ID-Marketing” considered, the volume of specialty fats production in Russia amounted to almost 700 thousand tonnes in 2017, whereas production of refined palm oil reached 205.2 thousand tonnes.

In January–February 2018, 80.5 thousand tonnes of confectionery, culinary and bakery fats were produced in Russia, the bulk of production – namely 96.8% – accounted for by confectionery fats. Output of butterfat substitutes in the first 2 months of 2018 equaled 34.5 thousand tonnes, whereas production of cocoa butter substitutes and equivalents amounted to 8.2 thousand tonnes.

Volumes of exports of margarine products and specialty fats from Russia have been increasing in recent years**. In 2015, volumes of exports demonstrated a slight increase compared with 2014 and amounted to 85.7 thousand tonnes. In 2016, supplies reached 87.1 thousand tonnes, which is 1.6% higher than in the previous year. In 2017, the volumes of exports equaled 91.5 thousand tonnes, having grown by 5.1% against 2016. The main flow of Russian margarine products and specialty fats goes to the countries of the CIS. In addition, in recent years domestic fats and oils manufacturers have been actively cooperating with Serbian and Chinese partners.

In 2014, 127.6 thousand tonnes of margarine products and specialty fats were imported into Russia. Indicators for 2015 are one quarter lower than for 2014. In 2016, the decrease in import volumes continued and, compared with 2015, imports dropped by 18.5%. In 2017, a 17.4% increase in the volume of imports of the products in question was recorded compared with 2016.

In 2017, Indonesia retained its leadership among producing countries in terms of volumes of margarine product and specialty fats imports into Russia, occupying 29.1% of the total volume. Sweden was second in 2017, having accounted for 22.9% of imports of the goods in question. Malaysia was last among the three leaders in imports of margarine products and specialty fats – the share of this country in the overall volume in 2017 reached 21.9%.

According to “ID-Marketing”, the share of imported goods in market capacity in the segment of margarine declined from 7% in 2011 to 0.4% in 2017. In previous years, a large share in imports of margarine into Russia was accounted for by Ukrainian products – for instance, they occupied 83% of imports in volume terms in 2011; however, changes in the economic and political situation have led to a significant reduction in supplies.

In 2017, the segment of fats demonstrated growth in the share of imported products in apparent market capacity up to 11.8% against 9.6% in the previous year. Said increase in imports was achieved through growth in supplies of cocoa butter substitutes into Russia which equaled 32% in 2017 compared with 2016.

Following the implementation of the technical regulations for trans fat content, large holding companies announced their readiness to work with the new requirements and to switch to them starting with January 1, 2018. Therefore, as competition in the industry increases, in the short term one may count on both quantitative and qualitative improvement and development in the market.

* Indicator: ‘Wholesale of selected goods in large and medium-sized wholesale organizations’.

** For data comparability, supplies to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan in 2014–2015 are excluded.